Apparatus for treating petroleum



July E, 1925.

C. P. DUBBS I APPARATUS FOR TREATING PETROLEUMS Original Fiied June 21, 1919 Carbon? Du bbs. 77 92 Patented July 21, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OF ICE...

CARBON I. DUIBBS, F WILMETTE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO UNIVERSAL OIL PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF SOUTH-DAKOTA APPARATUS FOR TREATING PETROLEUM.

Original application filed June 21, 1919, Serial No. 305,793. Divided and this application med September To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARBON P. Dumas, a citizen of the United States, residing in the town of Wilmette, county of Cook, and

State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Treating Petroleum, of which the following is a specification.

This a plication is a divisional of an orig- 1 inal application filed June 21, 1919, Serial N 0. 305,798, upon which Patent No. 1488325 was issued March 25, 1924.

' This invention relatesto an apparatus for treating petroleum and other hydrocarbons to produce therefrom, products having lower boiling points. 7

The invention contemplates an apparatus for continuously treating petroleum; an apparatus whereby .petroleum is passed through a heating zone, then through a vaporizing chamber, wherein part of it remains liquid containing such solids originally in the oil or formed while being heated, the liquid being intermittently or continuously drawn from such vaporizing chamber and carrying with it more or less of the solid matter; an apparatus in which the vapors liberated in thejyaporizing zone are passed througha seriesfofpools of liquid oil subjecting the vapors tda dephlegmating action; an apparatusin which the circulation of the vapors may be controlled by a pump interposed in the vapor line; an apparatus which utilizes the raw oil as a reflux condensing agent, the reflux condensate combining with. the raw oil prior to its being introduced to the heating zone; an apparatus whereby an increased amount of the heat generated is utilized in the system; an apparatus in which the raw oil is caused to circulate down through successive pools maintained in the dephlegmator, subjecting the vapors bubbling therethrough to a-refluxing action, the raw oil and condensate being drawnoif "from the bottom of the dephlegmator; an apparatus whereby the oil under treatment is heated in one stage and such heat treatment so controlled and regulated as to prevent any substantial deposition of carbon in such zone; an apparatus in which the oil to be treated is fed continuously or intermittently by passing itv through succeedin pools of 011 before being passed to the crac ing tubes, such oilbeing freed of that portion having Serial No. 498,887.

the desired low boiling points while dephlegmating the vapors in said pools; and in general to provide an improved apparatus of y the character referred to.

. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevationin section of my improved apparatus.

F i .2 is a to plan view of the vaporizing I cham ers and t e immediate piping.

Fig. 3 is a top cross sectional .view of that section of Fig. 1, in which the pools of oil are shown. This is a cross section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

In describing the attached drawing, and v throu h line L into tank M, along with the .incon ensable gases. Water is fed to tank L through line L and travels outof said tank through line L".- The condensate collected in tank M is drawn off through line M havin positioned thereon pressure regulating va ve M while the incondensable gas is drawn off through line M .through pressure re lating valve M and on this tank is a liqui level auge M and a pressure gauge M. Tanks and L" rest on the supports marked X.

The level of the top pool of oil in the chamber L is maintained approximately at J and any surplus flows through pipe J into the pool of oil directly thereunder, the level of this pool being maintained at point marked J. Any excess travels through line J into the bottom of the pool of oil immediately thereunder, the level of the oil in each pool being-maintained at the oints indicated J and any excess travelling throu h the lined" into the pool of oil immediate y thereunder and this pool is maintained at a level marked J and any excess travels through line .1, having positioned on it .valve J. At the bottom of the line J", the a cross sectional area is reduced as shown at J, the larger sizedpipe used in J being for the purpose of allowing the oil to b3 -J into header A, and passes throng more or less, freed of any vapors containe therein, such vapors passing back up through said pipe into the bottom of the chamber L". The liquid passes throu hlline mes B into header A In each of these headers opposite each end of the tubes B are positioned plugs A, for the purpose of allowing entry to said tubes for cleaning same and opposite these lugs are furnace doors A and A which by opening give ready access to said plugs.

The tubes B and headers A and A are positioned in the furnace A. As the oil passes through these tubes B from header A i into header A it is subjected to heat, which converts a portion into lower boiling point products, and the oil flows from header A through line G, into header C having positioned therein pyrometer N and through valve G into retort D, which retort has manholes marked D pressure gauge P.

As the oil passes through tank D, a proportion of same is vaporized and passes up through vapor lines E into header E and through valve E into line E Through the line E, the valve E being opened while the valves E" and E are closed, the vapors pass into the bottom compartment of the chamber L. Any proportion condensing drains into the bottom compartment of chamber L", and is automatically returned to the heating tubes B through lines J 4 the valved .being open. The uncondensed portion passes up through the pipes marked F and by means of caps G are forced downwardly and dischar ed near the bottom into the pool of oil in t at chamber. The bottoms of thecaps marked G. are perforated at the points marked H. The vapors as they bubble up throughthis pool of oil give up more or less of their heat and more or less of the vapors are condensed and as they bubble up through this liquid, they are more or less scrubbed. The excess oil accumulated in this pool travels through ipe J into the pool of oil contained in t e compartment directly thereunder, the pipe J extending down into the pool of 01 to a point near the bottom, thus forming a liquid seal so that no vapors contained in the'lower chamber can pass up through pipe J into the upper chamber. The remaining vapors pass up through aipes l? and are forced by means of caps 1 downwardly to a point near the bottom of the pool of oil contained in this chamber and there escape ihto said pool of oil through the perforations at a point marked H in said caps or if these are not of sufiicient capacity, the excess vapors can pass clear down under the bottom of the caps and escape up through the oil from that point.

.ing to near the bottom of said latter pool,

so as to prevent any vapors passing therethrough from the latter chamber up into the former chamber. The remaining vapors in the last mentioned pool pass up through pipes F and by means of caps G2 are forced down to near the bottom of the pool of oil contained in thisv chamber and are there discharged into said pool of oil through the perforated places marked H or by passing completely under the bottom of caps G and as they percolate up through this pool of oil, more or less heat is extracted therefrom and retained in the oil forming this pool, which causes more or less of such vapors to be condensed and retained in this pool of. oil and the surplus of such oil overflows through pipe J into the pool immediately thereunder, being discharged in said pool near the bottom so as to prevent any vapors in said lower chamber passing through this ipeinto the upper chamber. There may e as many pools of oil as are shown in the chamber-l1 or as desired or found necessary to sufficiently scrub the vapors passed therethrough and to'reduce and condense any desired portions of the vapors to produce the resired boiling point, the remaining vapors passing from said chamber L through pressure regulating valve L tl'irough gooseneck L as already described. These pools of oil may be contained in one chamber as shown in the drawing and marked L or in more than one chamber. The excess oil in the bottom pool of each chamber being returned to the heating pipes B in the same manner as shown in the drawing, and as this will be readily understood by those versed in the art, I have not deemed. it necessary to show more than one chamber marked L".

In case it is desired to stimulate the flow of vapors from the vaporizing chamber into and through the chamber L", a pump is provided marked E and connected to the vapor line E by means of line E, having positioned on it valve E and on the discharge side of the pump it is connected to vapor line E by line E", having positioned on it valve E. To use this pump for pumping, the valve E in line E would be closed and valves E and E would be opened, and the 'pump' put in operation, thereby causing the vapors to travel from line E through line line E on the opposite side of the valve E from, which the vapors were originally drawn from line E,

In different parts of'this vaporizing chamher are shown pyrometers marked N and pressure gauges marked P. The chamber tently through line D throughjvalve l) and with it is carried off more or less of the carbon formed in the cracking of the oil. Vaporizing chamber 'D is duplicated, as shown, in vaporizing chamber marked D This is for the reason that whenit becomes necessary to clean vapor chamber D, the rest of the apparatus can be kept in operation by diverting the flow of heated oil coming from the heating tubes! B' into the other vaporizing chamber D by the opening of valve and the vapors passed therefrom by the opening of valve E The unvaporized portion in tankD is drawn off through valve D through line D and the discharge of the heated oil intotank D is stopped by the closing of valves C; In due time, the manholes marked D--lD on this latter tank can be opened and the tank cleaned; said tank will be ready to be put back in service by the time it becomes necessary to clean tank D this being done by v the closin' of valves G, and E and the opening 0 valves C and E These vapor chambers are supported by supports marked X.. Said vaporizing chambers and vapor line marked E and section of vapor line marked E are heavily insulated as indicated by D in Fig. 1. The purpose of such insulation is for preventing aloss of heat from this section and to prevent any portion of the oil, after once beilfg vaporized, from condensing and mixing with that portion remaining in the vapor chamber unvaporized. These vapor chambers are main-,

tained only partly full of oil; 1

It will be noted that the raw oil is fed into the top or last pool of oil, which is of the lowest temperature and flows from there into the next succeeding pool of oil, which is higher in temperature and then to the next, which is still higher, etc., th us being progressively subjected to increasing temperatures and also mixed with such oils as are condensed in these pools of oil and such mixture returned for further heating. Thus, the raw oil being fed in is being preheated before assing to the heating coils B and thus utilizing more or less of the heat given up by the vapors. It is to'be noted that by this novel arrangement the raw oil fed through the pools is preheated, and also the condensate resulting from the condensation of heavier vapors maintained in a hot conditidn The oil accumulating in the dephelgmator is discharged to the cracking oil through the line J.

Among other advantages of this process are the control of the amount of cracking done on each passage of the oil through the heating or cracking tubes B, the separation andwithdrawal from the apparatus of the unvaporized portion remaining in the vapor chamber along with more or less of the carbon formed, thefractional condensing of the vapors generated and the return to the heating tubes of those fractions of not sufliciently low boiling point. These fractions which are returned to the heating tubes represent the refluxcondensate and do 30 not haveany free carbon content.- 1

It will also be observed that in this arrangement, great 'economyin fuel will be gained. The temperature to which the oil is heated mayvaryfrom a minimum of 200 degs. F. to 600 degs. F., and from a maxi- .mumof 600 degs. F. to 1500'degs. F. While the pressure maintained may vary from minimum to a few pounds to the square inch to a maximum of 800 pounds to the square inch. These ranges of temperature j and pressure are by no means arbitrary. I claim as my invention: p

' 1. An apparatusfor converting oil, comprising a furnace, a heating coil therein, an enlarged insulated chamber disposed outside of said furnace, an insulating wall around said chamber, a transfer line between -the heatin coil and 'the chamber, a dephlegmator disposed at an elevation above theheating coil insaid furnace, a 'vapor transfer line from said chamber to said dephlegmator, a residual drawoff line leading from the chamber, means for introducing charging stock to the dephlegmator to absorb heat from thevapors passing therethrough and to preheat the charging stock, means for collecting a body of said charging stock and reflux condensate, a communication between said collectin means and the heat-' ing tubes for introduclng the char 'ng stock and reflux condensate to the heating tubes,v and means for maintaining a superatmospheric pressure on the oil undergoing conversion. r

2. An apparatus for converting oil, comprising a furnace, a heatin coil therein, an enlarged chamber dispose outside of said furnace, a transfer line establishing communication between said chamber and the heating coil in the furnace, means surrounding said. chamber toprevent an excessive drop in the'temperature of the oil therein, means for withdrawing residual oil from the body of oil maintained in said chamber without admitting the same to the heating coil, a vapor transfer linein communication with said chamber, a dephlegmator disposed at an elevation above said heating coil and in communication with said vapor transfer iii line, means for introducing charging stock to the dephlegmator to condense insufiicien't- 1y cracked vapors and to preheat the charging stock, means for collecting an accumulated body of such preheated charging stock and reflux condensate, means for delivering oil from said body to the inlet side of the heating coil to pass therethrough, and means for maintaining a superatmospheric pressure on the "oil undergoing conversion.

3. An apparatus for converting oil comprising a furnace, a heating coil therein for.

heating a stream of oil to a cracking temperature, an enlarged chamber disposed outside of the furnace, means for delivering the heated stream of oil'to said chamber, means for preventing an excessive drop in the temperature of the oil in \said chamber, means for withdrawing residual oil from the chamber without admitting the same to the heating coil, a vapor transfer linein communi cation with said chamber, dephlegmating means disposed away from said heating coil and furnace and in communication with said vapor transfer line, means for passing charging-stock to the said dephlegmating means in heat transfer relation with the vapors therein to condense the insufiiciently cracked vapors and to preheat the charging stock, means, for passing the preheated charging stock and reflux condensate to the inlet side of the heating coil, and means for maintaining a superatmospheric pressure on the oil undergoing conversion.

4. An apparatus for converting oil, comprising a furnace, a heating coil therein for heating a stream of oil to a cracking temchamber, dephlegmating means disposed away from said heating coil and furnace, and in communication with said vapor transfer line, means for passing charging-stock to the said dephlegmating means in heat transfer relation with vapors introduced thereto, to condense the insufficiently cracked vapors and to preheat the charging stock, means for collecting a plurality of separate oil pools in said dephlegmating means through which oil pools said vapors must pass, means for passing the preheated charging stock and reflux condensate to the inlet side of the heating coil and means for maintaining a superatmospheric pressure on the oil undergoing conversion.

' CARBON P. DUBBS.

res'idu- 

